Monthly Archives: September 2013

Sleeping In = Happy Body

September 3, 2013Daily Life!, Food for Thoughtharkey12

Welcome back to reality! Going back to work this morning was fun, wasn’t it?! Or maybe not….

Regardless, my holiday weekend left me tired and slightly tore down between logging extra miles running, bridal showers, and getting less sleep than usual. So I decided to give my body a break this morning and slept in til a solid 6:20 AM which is my usual wake up time on days I don’t do a morning workout. My morning workouts really invigorate me and leave me feeling ready to take on the world, but I knew today it would probably hinder me to get up early and hit the gym. My bed was just too comfy. According to my Fitbit One, I slept for a solid 8 hours and 22 minutes! I feel like a new woman today! Lesson learned – I needed the sleep more than the workout 🙂

Breakfast

Breakfast today was made in the breakroom once I made it to work a little before 8 AM. I made some oatmeal in the microwave (fancy styrofoam cup style) and threw in some fresh blueberries. I added the blue berries while the oats were still piping hot so they would warm all the way through and get a little soft. It was basically heaven in a cup to my tastebuds this AM. Especially with all the hot coffee I brought to work as well.

I also had some extra blueberries on the side a little after the oatmeal high had worn off.

You’re thinking, “Why so many blueberries the last few days?!” Well I love ’em. And I bought 2 large containers of them at Sam’s a week ago. Luckily they are still staying fresh, so I’m enjoying them while I can!

And I’ve gotta rave one more time about my cheapie Kroger yogurt. My snack this morning was the always-delicious Carrot Cake yogurt.

This stuff tastes like carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. And it’s only 60 calories with 9 grams of protein. Amazing, right?! I’m obsessed. And it held me over til lunch time, which is all I ask of my morning delights.

Hope you’re day back to the grind is treating you well. I’ll see you all tonight after Jazzercise!

Labor Day Fun!

September 2, 2013Daily Life!, Food for Thought, Jazzerciseharkey12

It’s been a great day here around the Harkey household! Any day that I get to break away from my normal schedule is all right by me.

Workout

This morning I slept in til 6:30 (it could’ve been worse!), and I quickly leashed up a sleepy Mac for a quick run. He was a trooper and the run was just long enough to get me nice and warm before I continued my morning’s workout at Jazzercise. Plus, it was actually cool outside while running this morning. I’ve been waiting for a nice morning, and today was it! I could’ve keep running for miles…at least I felt like I could have in the beautiful morning air. So invigorating!

We arrived home pretty quick though because my tummy was growling, and my coffeepot was a waitin’! I ate and gave myself enough time to digest before heading to our special team-taught class.

On holidays, we often hold 1 Jazzercise class only and invite our students to bring their friends and family for free. This morning we had an almost-packed house, and I team taught with several of my fellow instructors. We tag team the stage, each teaching a few songs before handing off the mic. So fun! And one of the other instructors was nice enough to snap a few pics of me on stage…

Yup, that’s me in the yellow top and crazy pants! The class energy was great, and I was beyond sweaty after class.

Breakfast

Breakfast today was delicious and quick since I threw some overnight oats together last night before bed.

I combined…

1/2 cup oats
1 TB chia seeds
1 6 oz. container light yogurt, Pumpkin Pie flavor!
1/2 cup Light vanilla soy milk
a couple shakes of pumpkin pie spice

and I let that sit in a covered container in the fridge overnight for the oats to soak up all the milk and yogurty goodness.

It was very pumpkiny and fit the morning with the cooler weather. Yum! I also enjoyed some fresh blueberries on the side and lots of hot coffee. 🙂

Dinner

The rest of my day was spent grocery shopping and doing several loads of laundry (thrilling, I know). It was nice and relaxing though. So relaxing though that dinner kinda went by the wayside. I had a quick salad to tide me over while I baked a spaghetti squash!

My salad had lots of veggies, including some mushrooms I grabbed today while shopping. I have never been a mushroom lover, but I know they are healthy and great for you. So I thought I’d give them another go.

They were actually pretty tasty and filling! I think I’ll have to start keeping them on hand for my salads on a regular basis.

The spaghetti squash was delicious, and I paired my portion with marinara sauce to eat as my main meal. I had to forgo a photo though as it looked like puke on my plate. Not appetizing at all. But I swear it was good. 🙂

Happy Labor Day from Mac & No Cheese! Now get to bed early because we’ve gotta go back to work tomorrow bright and early. Enjoy your night!

Easy Orange Crockpot Chicken

September 2, 2013Recipesharkey12

Ready for an easy and quick recipe that you could most likely put together with what you have in your pantry right now? When I look at a recipe, if it has more than around 8-10 ingredients, my mind shuts down and I look for a different recipe. So anything that can deem the word Easy in the title is okay by me.

I knew I was going to be exhausted after Katie’s Bridal Shower yesterday, so before I left for the day I threw the recipe below together in my crockpot so Nick and I could have a nice Sunday evening dinner. And it was a definite hit as Nick went back for seconds 🙂

Easy Orange Chicken Crockpot Recipe

Ingredients:

5 large chicken breasts, frozen
2 cups baby carrots
1 red onion, medium
1 cup Catalina dressing
1 cup orange marmalade
1 1/2 TB lite soy sauce
2 ts garlic salt

Place the frozen chicken breasts directly into the crockpot. I left mine frozen because my crockpot is newer and always just about scorches my meals if I’m not careful. If you’re using thawed chicken, just reduce your cooking time a bit 🙂

Slice up the onion into small chunks (not diced) and place the onions and the carrots around the chicken in the crock.

In a separate bowl, mix up the remaining ingredients into a smooth sauce. It should be smelling pretty orangey! Pour this sauce directly overt the chicken and the veggies. As the mixture cooks, a lot of liquid will appear so don’t worry about it being too dry. Don’t add extra liquid!

I let this cook on Low for 6 hours and it was ready to go. Adjust your cooking times to your crockpot. My chicken was falling apart it was so tender! I also shredded up the chicken a bit during the last 30 minutes to let the chicken soak up more of the delicious sauce.

Mmm orange chicken... — Mmm orange chicken…

Yum yum! I served our orange chicken with some sauteed squash that I received from one of my Jazzercise students this past week.

Try out some orange chicken for yourself and let me know how it turns out or if you have a fun twist for the recipe!

Hope your Labor Day is off to a great start!